


CDLIV.

by Ex-Genesis (SevlinRipley)



Category: Disney Live Action
Genre: Canon Het Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Growing Up, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 20:19:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13395480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevlinRipley/pseuds/Ex-Genesis
Summary: The more accustom to the Matthews' dinner table T.K. became, the more Cory felt he was aiding in destroying something.





	CDLIV.

The more accustom to the Matthews' dinner table T.K. became, the more Cory felt he was aiding in destroying something beautiful. Something unique, and pure. Big words for a boy his age. Yet he couldn't help casting sideways glances at her as she brushed hair behind an ear, and flushed as she said, "Please pass the potatoes." Why're you blushing, he wanted to ask her. You know you can have the potatoes, he wanted to say. They're as much yours as anyone else at this table.

Before, she would've known that. She would've taken the dang wooden spoon and plopped down half the bowl onto her plate, even if she'd had to reach half-way across the table to do it.

He hadn't meant to gawk, but - she furrowed her brow as she met his eyes, pausing, before pursing her lips and looking straight down at the meager plate at her place. Cory's lungs felt tight, and he knew he'd pushed it just another step further then. She had so much shame in her now. It had to be painful.

Flexing his hand, Cory reached out, fumbling with the table cloth as he tried to locate hers. Once he found it, he grabbed it. Firm. Her eyebrow twitched, and then she glanced his way, askance. Cory only replied by affixing their fingers, locking their hands together tighter. More secure. He didn't know what else he could do in front of his whole family. And yeah, maybe they'd have to eat with one hand for a while, but Cory didn't care. He wanted to hold her hand and so he would.

Eventually, after peas had been pressed to mash, and roast beef had turned to string on their plates, T.K. squeezed his hand back. Slowly, somewhat reluctantly, he released her hand, and they continued the rest of the dinner as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. After dinner, she offered to help Amy wash the dishes. Said she never got to do that elbow-to-elbow with her own mom before, and that it'd be an honor. And since Mr. Matthews had cooked, Amy agreed, the more the merrier at the sink.

Eric shot Cory a _look_ once all the plates and flatware had been collected, Morgan having run off to her dollies long before. 'You okay?' he mouthed. Because apparently Cory just kept right on looking like he was digging somebody's grave. Cory shrugged, swallowed. "Thanks for asking," he whispered. Meaning it. Because that type of thing was something Eric usually avoided. Cory must _really_ have looked - out of sorts.

Patience was a virtue, Cory told himself repeatedly, watching his mom and T.K. laugh over bubbles and towels. It didn't take him long to tell virtue to buzz off, however. "Sorry mom. Bye mom," Cory said, pulling T.K. out the backdoor by her elbow as she looked back at him, confused, on the verge of calling out an admonishing 'Hey!' yet refusing to actually do so.

Once in the backyard with the smell of Mr. Feeny's flowers wafting through the cool air, Cory turned on T.K. "You have to stop!" he shouted. And he didn't mean to, nor did he mean to sound so angry. But he _was_. We was really upset.

"Fuzzy," T.K. breathed out, taking a step back toward the door. "What's wrong?"

"You're _changing_." Not just an accusation, but a fact.

Theresa turned, looking toward the porch swing instead of at Cory. "I thought you wanted me to change." It's harsh around the edges, and it hurts but it's at least _something_ other than the robotic, perfect Stepford girl she'd been behaving as recently. Some emotion other than bashful, forced cheerfulness.

But she was right, so right that Cory couldn't even celebrate it. He had. He'd forced her to change because she was too much, too fast, all in, all the time. And Cory had told her she was _wrong_ for it. _He_ had put that shame in her. "I know," he said, mouth and throat dry, as he looked at her, wishing he could take it back. "But I was stupid to want that. I didn't know what I was talking about."

She meandered over to the swing, sitting down on it with her arms folded across her middle, pulled in on herself.

Cory sighed, and then came to sit beside her, knees turned her way, engaging her as much as he knew how to. "T.K.," he said, plaintive. "I'm like, barely even old enough to date. I can't tell you how you should act, or what you should think or feel. It doesn't work that way... I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with _me_."

"Well that's not very encouraging," she huffed, under her breath. But Cory couldn't help the sliver of a smile that sentiment drew from him.

"No, it's not," he said, almost laughing. "But I've grown up enough, since being with you, to know more than I did when I asked you to change. Enough to know that was a _huge_ mistake."

T.K. bit the side of her lip, and then finally looked up at him from under her lashes. "Really?" she asked, soft, cheek dimpling.

"Yeah," he said with finality. "You're amazing for being you. And while that doesn't mean I think you should shower me with gifts all the time, that doesn't mean I can decide for you how to - to be with someone. You don't have to give people things for them to be with you, to want to be with you. But you also don't have to go to some charm school and drink tea with your pinky up, and eat with the correct fork. Like, who even needs two forks?!"

"Fuzzy," Theresa said, fond, and drawn out.

"Right," Cory smiled, blushing slightly. "A rant for another time. But do you get what I'm saying?"

T.K. was silent for a long moment, looking out in front of them instead of at Cory while she tried to sort things out. "So, like, you don't want me to have good manners?"

Cory's chin dropped to his chest, before he reached out and took her hands in his. "That's not - what I'm saying. I'm just saying that I don't want you to change who you are just because someone thinks you're not normal. Whatever normal even is. Am I normal?"

"No," T.K. said, just as affectionate as before. Cory gripped her hands tighter at that. And he could've leaned in and kissed her if he wasn't worried about distracting her from the point he was trying to make.

"Heck no," Cory agreed. And maybe a few months ago that would've hurt him to admit. But you know what? He didn't want to be 'normal' because normal was boring. T.K. had shown him how fun and interesting and _different_ life was when you just did whatever you wanted and didn't care what anyone else thought. And then he'd _ruined_ it. "I just want you to not try to correct yourself all the time, or -" He bit his lip in frustration. "I don't know how to say this without telling you how to act all over again, but I just want you back. _You_. Not this image you have of a girl my parents will accept, or who I don't find intimidating to be with, because. Because I love that I don't always know what to make of you. I like that you can surprise me, and that you're better at stuff than I am. That you know how to make things happen, and get your way, and still be such a kind and caring and wonderful person at the same time. Okay?"

She was smiling at him lop-sided by the end of his tirade, when he'd been able to focus his sight again. Retracting one hand from his hold, she cupped his cheek. Leaned in close, nose-to-nose. "Okay, Fuzzy." Then she kissed him, and Cory's whole body went limp. Relief flooded through him, as well as appreciation. A warm glow of happiness that Cory didn't fully comprehend. He bunched her skirt into the hand he had on her lap, before forcing himself to let go, pull away, flushing down under the collar of his shirt. "It's okay if we kiss, y'know. I won't -"

Cory nodded, breathless. Yeah. Right. They could just kiss. It's just that before when they kissed, it had either been too much for Cory, or with T.K. trying to be 'chaste' and 'simple' - not at all herself, who was passionate about everything. This time, he was ready for that wildness to come through, could appreciate it for all it was worth. And he couldn't quite fathom how a kiss could be so good and real, and without any strings attached. He could just accept it for what it was. "Are you mad at me for - for everything?"

"No..." T.K. said after a short moment. Then she reached out and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "I'm just tryin' to figure all this stuff out. And now I know that you are too. I feel a lot better."

"Me, too," Cory said, gripping her tighter. "You really mean a lot to me." The words tumbled from his mouth. But they were true, and she deserved to hear them. Cory knew he was too young to know what love meant, and even if he did understand it, he thought it'd be unfair to use. When they were both still fumbling in the dark trying to find some kind of balance. But he knew she was important to him. That he'd probably look back on this someday as a pivotal moment in his life when the Cory he'd grow up to be started solidifying. "Thanks for being here with me."

T.K. chuckled softly in his ear before rising up from the swing, pulling Cory up by his hand. "Wouldn't wanna be anywhere else."


End file.
